The present invention relates to a door sealing element for sealing a gap between an, in particular lower, edge of a movable door and a stationary, in particular on the floor side, mating face, comprising two pieces of flexible tubing, which are connected to each other, such that they communicate on one end (i.e. like “communicating pipes”), namely a first piece of tubing to be provided in the area of the lower door edge and a second piece of tubing to be provided in the area of a door edge to be moved against a stationary stop surface in a closed position of the door. The pieces of tubing are configured such that by means of elastic compression of the second piece of tubing, a defined air volume is displaced into the first piece of tubing, and thus the first piece of tubing is elastically expandable to seal the gap.
The publication DE 20 2005 003 560 U1 describes a device for sealing doors with a sealing element of the cited type. With it, the sealing of a gap is to be achieved automatically in a closed state of the door, particularly a gap between a lower edge of the door and a floor-side mating face. In order to do so, when closing the door, the second piece of tubing, which is in particular arranged vertically on a lateral edge of the door opposite to a stop side, is mechanically compressed between the door and a stop surface (door frame). Because both pieces of tubing are hermetically sealed at their free ends, a defined volume of air is displaced from the second piece of tubing into the first piece of tubing, by means of which the first piece of tubing is elastically expanded to fill the gap. When the door is opened, this process is reversed due to the elasticity of the pieces of tubing, so that the cross-sectional area of the first piece of tubing diminishes, in order to open up the gap. The door can then be opened without friction in the sealing area and subsequently closed again.
The basic object of the invention is configuring a sealing element of the type described, such that it can be mounted in a particularly easy manner, preferably for re-fitting a door in its place of installation.
Inventively, this is achieved by means of an additional closing device that is configured so that the second piece of tubing can be sealed in the direction of its free end, which is situated opposite to the first piece of tubing, by means of mechanical squeezing, or, as the case may be, pinching along its longitudinal extension. This makes assembly simple, because elaborate material joining (heat-sealing) of the open end of the second piece of tubing is not required. In fact, the second piece of tubing only has to be mechanically pinched shut, possibly after trimming to adjust it to the respective door dimension, with the inventive sealing element. This allows for very simple adjustment of the length of the second piece of tubing to the respective door. In addition, using the invention, different air chamber volumes in the second piece of tubing can be sealed off (chambered), which are determined in each case by the internal cross section of the product times the effective length of the piece of tubing. In this way, the volume of air that is displaced in each case into the first piece of tubing when closing the door due to compression of the second piece of tubing can as a result be varied, so that by means of the “adjusted” effective length of the chamber volume of the second piece of tubing, the extension properties and the sealing effect of the first piece of tubing can be adjusted.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the sealing element consists of a common holding strip that is to be arranged on the door, together with the second piece of tubing in a parallel-extending arrangement, and at least one closing clamp, whereby the closing clamp, with the interposition and pinching-off of the second piece of tubing, is detachably connectable with the holding strip, in particular, that it can be sealed in a form-fitting, “clip-like” manner. In this case, the holding strip features holding means on the opposite lateral edge areas, with which corresponding holding elements of the closing clamp interact, said holding means overlapping, in a bridge-like manner, the holding strip and the second piece of tubing. It is also advantageous to configure the holding strip and the closing clamp in combination with the second piece of tubing, in order to adapt to the respective door-installation situation in such a way that the closing clamp makes contact with the stationary stop surface in a closed state of the door in such a way that an additional mechanical pressing force is applied to the clamp, in order to cause pressure-tight sealing of the second piece of tubing.
In a second preferred embodiment of the invention, the closing device features a clamping part which is not affixed together with the second piece of tubing to the door, but rather advantageously to the fixed stop surface. In this case, the clamping part is detachable and can be attached by using suitable holding means in different places along the length of the stop surface provided for the attachment of the second piece of tubing. The clamping part is configured as an adjustment to the respective mounting situation in the door area in such a way that when the door is closed, the second piece of tubing, which is still open at the end, is moved first against the clamping part, and in that way clamped and sealed at the open end. In this closed state of the second piece of tubing, however, a further closing movement of the door is possible, in order to sufficiently compress the sealed piece of tubing. This means that the clamping part may not act as a spacer between door and stopping surface, or at least not until the second piece of tubing is compressed enough to guarantee the desired gap-sealing due to the extension of the first piece of tubing. This preferred embodiment results in the particular advantage that when the door is open, the second piece of tubing is always open at its free end, which results in automatic pressure equalization.
It should be noted that the invention is in principle suitable for any type of door, in particular normal swinging doors, but also, for example, sliding doors.
Additional advantageous characteristics of embodiments of the invention are seen in the independent claims and the following description.
The invention will be explained in more detail using the preferred embodiments shown in the drawing. The following is shown:
In the different figures of the drawing, the same or, as the case may be, functionally similar parts are always provided with the same reference signs.